Rafael Nadal lost a set and survived a match point before defeating Olivier Rochus 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in his first competitive match for almost four months in Marseille on Tuesday.
Top seed Nadal, who had not played a tournament match since injuring his left foot in November while training for the Shanghai Masters Cup, looked short of practice throughout his first round match at the Marseille Open.
Belgian Rochus took the first set after breaking the French Open champion's serve three times.
Nadal took control of the match in the second set, winning 12 points in a row.
He broke serve in the first game of the third set and led 4-2 but Rochus came back to 4-4, held his serve and had a match point on the 19-year-old Spaniard's serve.
Nadal stayed in the game thanks to an ace. He won the ninth game against the serve and clinched the match with an ace on his first match point after two hours and 25 minutes of play.
"I have played easier games. This one was very difficult but I'm happy because it was my first game of the year and I managed to win. I'm not particularly tired even if I'm not fully fit," he said.
Nadal will next face Frenchman Gilles Simon, who defeated Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In the afternoon session, third seed Nicolay Davydenko of Russia beat Olivier Rochus's brother Christophe 6-1, 6-2 and Britain's Greg Rusedski defeated Frenchman Nicolas Thomann 6-3, 6-2.
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